


where were you, when it ended?

by gaytimetraveller



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, i guess, i just gotta throw this one out there before the game updates again, yes im still on my khux bs sorry guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 19:36:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17493995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaytimetraveller/pseuds/gaytimetraveller
Summary: It had ended differently, for all of them. The end of the world had come crashing down around everyone's ears, and they were the ones chosen to survive long enough to remember it.





	where were you, when it ended?

**Author's Note:**

> yes im still extensively on my khux bullshit and yes im still digging myself increasingly deeper into the khux headcanon pit cant wait for the game to update and personally kick me in the shins
> 
> anyways the mood here is that, sorry i cannot shut up about khux ever these days

**i.**

 

Ephemera had been waiting, when it happened. Even as far as he was, far enough that he should have had no way of knowing, something rattled in his bones when the bell tolled; even from a world away.

He’d known it would happen. He’d been waiting. Here, in the other realm, the bell didn’t move an inch, didn’t so much as shudder, but still bells seemed to ring in his ears as he jumped to his feet and started running. A horrible chorus resounding through his head, through his bones, under his feet as they hit the ground.

He’d been told it would happen, and he knew what he was supposed to do, but it was hard to remain steadfast when everything seemed to tremble with the noise. Or maybe it was the force of the world fracturing and falling apart, impacting even this far. Maybe the noise wasn’t the bells, over and over and over, but instead the world crying out, myriad voices screaming at the beginning of the end. Begging for what mercy remained as everything was slowly rent apart. Or it was the hundreds of feet, marching to their own self-made end.

He gasped for breath, unsure of whether it was from running or from the way he felt like even he would fall apart. He tripped over his own two feet, over the ground that seemed to shake, over nothing, but he kept going, he had to keep going.

In Daybreak Town, the bell had rung once, but for Ephemera it didn’t seem to stop.

 

**ii.**

 

Skuld had been ready, when it happened. She had known they were in their final hours; everyone had known. Now it was just a waiting game, waiting for the tension to finally boil over, for the end to arrive.

It had been palpable when they went to meet with Gula, something she could practically taste in the air. It was suffocating, waiting inside the melting pot to either be boiled alive or to have the chance for a timely escape. But the Dandelions would stick around until the final moment, the near final opportunity to get out, as if they still held some foolish hope that the war wouldn’t come to pass.

When it began, when that final bell tolled, all Skuld was left with was a numb level-headedness. She simply moved on auto-pilot, like she was accomplishing a set list of demands. Turn around, leave the building, stop, bid farewell to a friend, start walking, nod politely at any old acquaintances you see, knowing they are going to die soon.

She let her feet take her where she needed to go. Her ears still seemed to static and ring from the clang of the bell, the clamour and chaos, the yelling of the wielders around her, all called for one final union meeting.

She smiled gently at her Dandelions and hugged her arms tightly, making sure to know she still carried the one thing she needed. No use to bring anything else, for anyone to bring anything, it’d only drag them down.

When they left, Skuld bid goodbye to their world without really registering it would be gone.

 

**iii.**

 

Ventus hadn’t been there, when it happened. But yet, in a way, he had. Both present and not present, seeing and unseeing, here and there and light and darkness all at the same time.

When the wind blew and the bell tolled and the town shook with wielders pouring out of their homes; in from portals and quests, from back-alleys and housetops and who-knows-where-else, the bell heard across all, he hid.

He frantically curled up under the old desk in his room, book bundled in his arms, watching various pens and pencils and whatever other knick-knacks cascade off of it when he bumped into one of the legs. For brief moments, mere split seconds, things seemed to flash in front of him, as if his vision had been split. As if, somewhere out there, there was another Ventus, seeing all of these things through another set of eyes.

He held his head in his hands and waited for the trembling to stop, for everything to stop. He knew he should leave, that the Dandelions were leaving, but he couldn’t get up, couldn’t muster the strength. He was just too weak. Even behind closed eyelids there were flashes of _something_ ; of reaching a hand forth, of blades and violence and death and destruction, of blinding light and the deepest of darkness, of pain and of shattering and knowledge forbidden of ruin and creation and, and, and—

A clash for the fate of the world _(s)_.

Underneath his desk, Ventus trembled and waited for the world to end twice over.

 

**iv.**

 

Blaine was watching, when it happened. He had always been the type to observe, almost as if it was his job; all unexpectedly sharp eyes hidden under messy hair, almost like a disguise. And maybe that’s what it was. A simple disguise. He was used to such a thing, in a way.

Still, he had been watching, waiting for it to happen. He watched in rapt attention from that last union meeting as wielders marched off to their own death, simply because they had been told to. It was fascinating in some horrible way, in a way that made his hands shake inside his pockets; the fact that they simply did that because they had been told that was what they had to do.

Yet he would have done it with them, had he been told to. That was the frightening part.

But he’d been given a more important task now, to see through not only the end, but to a new beginning. He’d been given his orders, from Master Ava herself, to break the rules it seemed had been set out for wielders like him. Ava had laughed when she had told him, said she thought he would be good at bending the rules just a little. Just enough for it to be a good thing, maybe.

Even as he set off towards the Dandelions, towards where he was meant to be, there was a certain compelling force, a wish to follow the other wielders into battle. To truly see through the end. To witness the light of Kingdom Hearts itself shining down on the war, on the sacrifice made to bring it forth. He shook his head.

Walking away, Blaine gave a smile and made his way towards where he ought to be.

 

**v.**

 

Lauriam should have done more, when it happened. He had just been doing what he was supposed to, even trying to be helpful by showing up early, waiting for the other Dandelions with a polite and pleasant smile plastered onto his face.

He had already been leisurely strolling around when the bell started to ring, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to walk around to their designated spot, book in hand and casual as ever. It was the beginning of the end. Nothing could be done to stop it now, so there was no use to be in a hurry.

He leaned against a wall and watched as they first started gathering, wondering if his sister would show her face soon. He was sure she would get there soon. Strelitzia was always the type to fly off in a flurry and still end up late, the type to be careless without meaning to be.

But Lauriam’s patience started slipping; as much poise as he possessed, he didn’t have that much patience. By the time most of the Dandelions had arrived, he’d nearly given up bothering to look.

She should be here, he thought. She was supposed to be. Strelitzia was always the type to hang around the back, to make herself invisible, so she should be there even if he couldn’t see a familiar head of orange hair. She was short; he wouldn’t see her over the crowd. It was his job to take the front, to lead, he couldn’t sacrifice that to stick around just to watch for her. Surely she was hanging around some corner, a small smile on her face and Chirithy not far behind. She’d probably be one of the last through the portal, he could already see her tripping over her own feet going through. The thought had him smiling fondly.

She’d make it. He was sure.

Slipping through the portal, Lauriam knew he probably should have waited, but he didn’t.

 

**vi.**

 

And you? Where were you when it happened? Were you with the Dandelions, where you had a rightful place, or were you sticking around to the end, loyal to a fault?

The answer should have been obvious.

You watched, from the battlefield itself, as wielders clashed, winning and losing, surviving one fight only to fall quickly in another. There was no way to win, not in this war.

But you still fought. And you won. Against all the odds, you would win, and you would keep winning. It gave you a fragile hope, one you knew you shouldn’t foster; but it was the only thing to keep you going now.

You saw the great moon rise in the sky, the real, true thing, brought forth by the death and destruction, the light and the darkness. The sacrifice of countless children. The pointless loss of life. The blood that must’ve been on somebody’s, anybody’s, everybody’s hands. And you despaired.

What was the purpose? What could be worth all of this? Any of this?

_(Nothing.)_

And in the end? You began to fade; one last lone Dandelion withering away under the merciless light of Kingdom Hearts, hoping for salvation even if this end had been self-made.


End file.
